


Shadows of Mystacor

by PromiseOfGrayskull



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora is Having Issues, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Best Friend Squad (She-Ra), Canon Compliant, Catra really likes her, Domestic, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Marriage Proposal, Mission Fic, Mystery, sorta - Freeform, they just want peace
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:53:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24508723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PromiseOfGrayskull/pseuds/PromiseOfGrayskull
Summary: Etheria has started to move on and rebuild from the war with the Horde, the former Princess Alliance included. But when a mysterious thief infiltrates Mystacor, Adora and Catra find it hard to leave their past behind them.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 41





	1. Up in Our Bedroom, After the War

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Couple of things about this fic: I started writing it before I fully finished the fifth season of the show. I chose not to rewrite what I'd already written, but I wanted to incorporate some of the events of the season for the sake of accuracy. Therefore, things don't fully follow what is canon, but I can't explain what without spoiling my own fanfiction (notes will come along with each chapter.)   
> Updates are every Friday until the entire fic has been published. Enjoy!

It took some time after the war before everyone was back to normal. Following Horde Prime’s defeat, the princesses managed to get his forces, now without a leader, to retreat. One by one, towns were liberated from Prime’s control and rebuilt.   
Salineas was the first. Mermista didn’t stop until she had destroyed every last bot and clone, and burned every banner emblazoned blood red and black. Seahawk stays as close to her as he can. He knows she needs the support.  
Perfuma spent weeks building the woods back up to their former glory, and soon the woods was back to normal. She didn’t use her powers for a week afterward.   
Frosta was almost scared to return to her kingdom. It was too cold, too desolate. She wanted safety in numbers.   
Entrapta became obsessed with studying the technology of the robots left by Horde Prime. She wanted to build more, for Etheria. For protection. She only told Scorpia.   
Scorpia travelled the kingdoms, searching for people that may have known of her kingdom before the Horde. She visited the Princesses often, stopping to check in and stay a few days. She visited Frosta often, despite it being colder than she liked. She visits Perfuma the most, and tries to learn how to meditate. It’s soothing, she says.   
Bow visited his dads after the war was over. He understood why his father hadn’t wanted him to be a soldier. He doesn’t talk about how he jumps at loud noises.   
Glimmer’s reunion with her dad was a happy one. They decided to rule Bright Moon together, and they leave a throne empty for Angella. They hope maybe she’ll still come back.   
When they returned from space, Adora ran. She didn’t tell anyone where she was, she didn’t leave a single clue behind. They found her in the whispering woods after a week, disoriented and defeated. She doesn’t tell anyone what she did in the woods. No one asks. She still has nightmares, and wakes up clawing at the air and screaming.   
Catra hid in the Crimson Waste for months afterwards. She took back her gang, she lived in the underground caves, she disowned the Horde and everything she did with it. She searches the waste. She thinks maybe there’s someone else out there, someone like her. Adora convinced her to come to Bright Moon, but they visit the waste in the winter months when the woods are cold.   
The Princess Alliance was disbanded. Etheria was at peace. But those who served it were not. 

Adora woke with a gasp, bolting upright and covered in sweat. She panted, scanning her bedroom for any sign of a threat. The shape next to her in bed stirred.   
“Adoraaaa,” the shape whispered sleepily, “What is it?”  
The blonde relaxed slightly.   
“Nothing. I thought I heard something.”   
The girl next to Adora lifted herself up to look at her face.   
“You had another nightmare, didn’t you?” Catra asked, her eyebrows knit in concern. She shifted to reach for Adora’s hand.   
“I thought I’d stop having them after the war. I guess I was wrong.” Adora sighed. She glanced over at her sword, propped in the corner of their room.   
So much had happened after she had defied Light Hope and destroyed the Sword of Protection. She’d saved not only her world, but others, and discovered that She-Ra lived within her, that she really was destined to be her. She’d defeated an intergalactic army and gotten Catra back. All was seemingly well. So why was she still having nightmares?   
“Hey, hey, it’s okay. We’re okay. I’m right here,” Catra wrapped her arms around Adora, pulling her close and leaving a soft peck on her shoulder.   
“I know,” Adora smiled, resting her head lightly on her partner’s, “Let’s go back to bed. We can have waffles for breakfast.”   
Catra grinned, “I’m almost too excited to sleep now!” Adora chuckled, pulling her into her arms and snuggling closer.   
But even then, Adora couldn’t rest. 

In the morning, Adora made waffles, as promised. Catra tended to sleep in, so Adora was alone in the kitchen as she mixed the batter and spooned it into the machine Bow had rigged to cook waffles. She couldn’t help but let her thoughts drift.   
Etheria didn’t need a hero anymore. The war with the Horde was over, the planet was at peace, and hadn’t been bothered in their new region of the galaxy since defeating Horde Prime. The planets with existing civilizations had retaken their homes and continued their way of life. Adora had her friends, she had Catra. She had a little house at the edge of the Whispering Woods and a modest cave in the Crimson Waste. She had everything she could ever want, she was safe, but she couldn’t rest. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was needed somehow, that there was something more she needed to do. That it wasn’t entirely over.   
“That smells delicious...but also slightly burnt,” a voice said behind Adora. She shrieked and jumped, torn from her thoughts. Her face softened at the sight of her girlfriend.   
“Oh. Good morning, Catra,” she smiled, pulling a mug out of the cabinet and dropping a tea bag in it. Adora had already had hers, no milk, no sugar. But Catra had developed a sweet tooth since she’d lived in Bright Moon, and liked an almost unhealthy amount of sugar and honey in hers.   
Catra padded over to Adora, wrapping her arms around the blonde and kissing her softly before opening the waffle maker and prodding the waffle inside, slightly crunchier than usual.   
Adora reached for a plate to put it on before Catra could even open her mouth.   
Never in a million years did Adora think that this was what her life would be. There were many things she’d expected to happen, from working her way to the top of the Horde to dying in the field as She-Ra to fulfill her duty. She never thought she’d see a day where she and Catra were happy, and in love, and lived in a house in the woods where Catra had to lick the honey off of her fingers from stirring it into her tea. The thought of it made her laugh a little.   
“What? What’s so funny?” Catra asked in an accusatory tone, pausing mid-finger.   
“It’s just...I never thought that this was where we’d end up,” Adora said, taking a seat at the breakfast nook, “I never saw this as being our future.”  
Catra smiled, “You’re right. Everything we planned for our future didn’t happen, funnily enough.”   
Adora snorted, “Remember how we thought that we’d be in charge of the Horde when we were grown up?”   
“Ha! Well, I was, but it wasn’t with you. It wasn’t all we thought it would be, either.” Catra cackled, “So much damn paperwork.”   
“Yeah, I don’t think ten-year-old us saw that coming. Force Captain Orientation wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be,” Adora giggled.   
“Wait, you actually went to that?” Catra questioned.   
“Well, uh, the night I got promoted was the night before I left, so I don’t think I did. But I did go to some meeting for Force Captains in that alternate universe, so maybe?” Adora thought aloud.   
“Don’t feel bad. I skipped it too. But apparently, EVERYTHING is covered in Force Captain Orientation,” Catra sighed, taking a sip of her tea.   
“I hope they told you what an aunt was, I didn’t know who Castaspella was to Glimmer until Bow explained it to me. There’s a lot they never told us in the Horde,” Adora remarked, pouring more batter into the waffle maker.   
“Yeah, they didn’t want us to know anything, really, probably just so we didn’t get suspicious and desert.”   
“It wasn’t all bad. We had fun. We just...didn’t know what was actually happening. I for sure, would never have fallen so, so, deeply in love with you if we hadn’t been in the Horde,” Adora slid Catra a smirk.  
“Well, duh. Spending every second with someone as annoying as you makes your brain go haywire,” Catra grinned.   
“You don’t have a romantic bone in your body, do you?” Adora sighed, defeated.   
“Probably not, but that’s fine. You’ve got enough in yours to make up for it,” the brunette winked as she finished off her waffle.   
“So, what should we do today?”   
“Well, we don’t have dinner with the princesses until tomorrow night, so I think today is all us! How about...we spend it like we used to in the Horde? Minus the ration bars, I don’t need to relive those.” Adora responded, rinsing her and Catra’s plates off in the sink.   
“Oh? How do you suppose we do that?” her girlfriend responded, flicking her ear.   
“Maybe a sparring session, exploring, in the woods of course, not the Fright Zone. I have been slacking a little on my workouts, I could use one of those.”   
“Sparring?” Catra raised an eyebrow and her tail began to swing excitedly.   
“I know what you’re thinking, and no, not that kind of sparring. Just good, old-fashioned, winner-take-all sparring,” Adora rolled her eyes.   
“Awww, Adoraaaa. You’re no fun,” Catra faked a pout.   
“I’m loads of fun, and you know it,” Adora huffed, “Now let’s get changed. I’m not gonna go easy on you.”   
“You don’t have to do that. We both know I’m gonna win no matter what,” Catra’s face slid into a smirk, and she leaned teasingly across the table.   
“I don’t know, Catra, you’ve been eating a loooot of snacks recently. Have you been staying in shape, too?” Adore tried hard to not grin.   
Catra flushed, “Of course I have! I just...like eating not-gross food now.”   
“Mmmmhmmm. I’m sure. Now, come on, it’s gonna be too warm out soon.” Adora laughed as she hurried out of the kitchen to get dressed. 

Adora prided herself on staying true to her upbringing, rising early and training, eating proteins, and exercising regularly. She’d let that slack a bit when the war was over. It was her consolation, she told herself, for the years of battle and early mornings for as long as she could remember. But now, she was out of breath and cursing herself for letting herself go.   
Catra was quick on her feet, she’d always been agile and graceful. But today Adora struggled to keep up. Catra was throwing punches and Adora was barely able to block them.   
“Getting tired, Adora?” Catra laughed, launching herself at Adora, who sidestepped, panting.   
“No... I...I had a big breakfast,” she wheezed, raising her staff to shove Catra away. The brunette grinned as she crouched to all fours.   
“Nah, you’re just slow,” she cackled.   
Adora glared as Catra ran at her, and spun out of the way. She tilted her staff to knock Catra’s feet out from under her, and the feline tumbled to the ground and into a lunge.   
“Huh, I never took you as big on defense. You’ve always been more of an offense kind of gal.” Catra giggled.   
“Look who’s talking,” Adora grunted, leaning on the staff. Catra rose, barely breaking a sweat. She kept her nails retracted when she sparred with Adora, but her hands instinctively flexed into claws. Adora shifted back into her battle stance, holding the staff at the ready.   
Suddenly, a loud poof startled them both, Catra extending her claws, and Adora whipping around to face the noise.   
Glimmer, out of breath, rested her hands on her knees and looked up, “Adora, Catra, there’s an emergency-” she stopped herself, looking at the two girls in full battle positions, “Are you two...fighting?”   
Adora relaxed slightly, “No, just sparring. What’s wrong? What’s the emergency?”   
Glimmer stood, “There’s been some mysterious activity going on in Mystacor. Some of their ancient texts are missing, and you know how top-security that place is.”   
“Do they think it’s the Horde, or Horde sympathizers?” Catra spoke, stepping forward to place a hand on Adora’s shoulder.   
“They aren’t sure. They think someone that had access to Mystacor had to have done it, and since the general population of Etheria doesn’t know where Mystacor is and how to get there, it does narrow down who could have done it. We’re having an emergency meeting in an hour at Bright Moon with Castaspella and another head sorcerer to determine what we should do. Your presence is requested.” Glimmer explained.   
“Just me? Or She-Ra?” Adora asked.   
“Both of you. The full Princess alliance too. I think they may want the entrance to Mystacor guarded until they catch who’s responsible,” the Queen responded.   
“So much for our day to ourselves,” Adora smiled apologetically at Catra, covering the hand on her shoulder with her own.   
“Hey, it’s all right. You were losing that sparring session anyway,” Catra smiled back.   
“I can teleport you both to Bright Moon, if you want. It’ll be faster,” Glimmer offered.   
“Sure thing. We’ll change real quick and I’ll grab my sword,” Adora nodded, and headed to the house with Catra trailing behind. A few minutes later, they emerged from the door, Adora strapping her sword to her back and Catra grabbing her other hand.   
“Ready,” Catra gave a small smile as she looked at Glimmer.   
“Alright!” Glimmer placed a hand on each of their shoulders, and they disappeared with a pop.


	2. Maybe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group is briefed on the situation and makes a plan, with the mission seemingly starting out to be a success.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, I'm a day late but things start happening in this chapter!!

The group emerged at the path to Bright Moon’s castle, the golden walls and moonstone sparkling as brightly as ever. Glimmer led the way to the all-too familiar War Room. Bow was already there, deep in conversation with King Micah. He turned at the sound of the door opening.  
“Adora!” he grinned and rushed forward to hug her and Catra.   
“Hey! How’s the newest invention coming?” Adora grinned.  
“Eh, we hit a couple of snags with it, I’m supposed to take it up to Dryl on the weekend so Entrapta can take a look at it. She might be able to tell me how to connect the energy source to the motor without frying the wires with First Ones tech,” he shrugged.   
“Motor? You’re upping your arrow game!” Adora laughed.   
One by one, the princesses arrived, and greeted Adora and Catra. They caught up with one another quickly.   
“How’s your garden at the cottage? Are you watering the vegetables enough?” Perfuma asked Catra anxiously.   
“Yes! Just a bit every day. I’ve been using Bow’s weather tracker to see if it’ll rain so they don’t get too much water,” she responded kindly.  
“Oh phew, Adora can’t keep anything alive, I knew it was up to you!” Perfuma sighed. They laughed.   
“Alright people! Time to get this meeting started!” Glimmer barged in through the doors, clapping her hands loudy and being trailed by Castaspella and another sorcerer.   
Micah raised an eyebrow at the young Queen, and she flushed.   
“Ahem. The meeting will now commence. Please take your seats,” she said, in a much more regal manner. Catra snorted softly as she took her seat next to Adora.   
Castaspella stood, and pressed a button on the table, displaying a map of Mystacor.   
“As you may already know, last night, four of the ancient tablets were taken. We don’t know the identity or motives of the thief, but the texts taken were some of the oldest and most dangerous. Whoever this was, they knew what they were doing. Our only guard to the room holding the texts was found unconscious, but was uninjured. We do not know how this person got into Mystacor, but we have since tripled our perimeter guard. I fear we may be dealing with someone that knows magic,” she explained.   
“Did the thief leave anything behind? Anything we could trace with a spell?” Frosta asked, leaning forward in her chair.   
“No,” Castaspella sighed, “If they had, we would have already traced it.”  
“We did find crushed crystal shards near the guard, Castaspella,” the sorcerer spoke up.   
“Oh, yes, that’s right. Thank you, Promire. We found blue crystal close to the guard, but it’s hard to tell if it belongs to the perpetrator because-”  
“The crystal bits are used for some spells,” Catra interrupted.   
“Yes, that’s...correct,” Castaspella continued.   
Adora raised an eyebrow at Catra, as if to ask how she knew that.  
“Shadow Weaver,” Catra mouthed.   
“Do you need any help with guarding Mystacor or the rest of the texts?” Mermista asked.   
“I am afraid to say that we will. Many of our sorcerers on Mystacor are too old to stand guard, or aren’t even trained yet because they’re so young. We aren’t able to have every eligible sorcerer stand guard all the time. We’d like to have some assistance in finding the person who stole the texts and in retrieving them,” Castaspella lowered her eyes.   
“We can do that. Can you provide lodging and provisions for the forces we send so they can work in shifts?” Glimmer nodded.   
“Absolutely.”   
“It’s settled. We’ll send some of the royal guard and the former princess alliance to Mystacor, if that’s alright with everyone here,” Micah decided.   
Adora raised her hand.   
“Yes, Adora?” Glimmer asked.   
“When you say the ‘Princess Alliance”, does that mean only the princesses of the alliance, or-”   
“Yes, Adora, Catra can go too,” Glimmer sighed as Adora grinned and Catra grasped her hand gently.   
“We’ll meet back here tonight, and make our way to Mystacor. Pack whatever you’ll need for a week, hopefully by then we’ll get to the bottom of this,” Glimmer announced as she stood.   
“Oooh! Our first mission since the Horde was defeated! YEAH!” Frosta cheered. She was getting older, she was almost a teenager now. But still just as excited as always.   
“We’ll see you all in a bit!” Adora waved to the princesses as she and Catra began the walk home.   
As soon as they were out of eyesight of Bright Moon, Catra leaned in to give Adora a kiss.   
“Ooh, that was unexpected,” the blonde giggled.   
“You aren’t complaining,” Catra smirked. It grew quiet again.   
“So Mystacor. I know it’s a fancy place for sorcerers and all that, but you haven’t talked about it much. What’s it like there?”   
“Well, it’s a floating island, for one, but you saw that in the meeting. The sorcerers use magic to keep it completely hidden from the outside, and to keep evil out,” Adora explained.   
“Wow. It sounds like a fortress,” Catra joked.   
Adora laughed, “You’ll be surprised. It’s beautiful. Glimmer and Bow say it’s the most relaxing place on Etheria. Maybe we’ll get some time to relax when we aren’t doing guard duty, the hot springs are great.” She winked. Catra flushed.   
They packed quickly. Adora shoved a couple daggers into a knapsack along with a few changes of clothes and a expandible staff. Catra shoved her nail file and whip in the bottom of her pack and rummaged through their drawers for something.   
“Adora, have you seen my-” she started.   
“Red ripped leggings? They’re in the bottom drawer, on the right,” Adora didn’t even look up from buckling her belt with the rebellion wing buckle.   
“What about my black jacket?”   
“In the closet.”   
Catra padded over to the closet to retrieve her jacket. She emerged, folding the garment across her arm, but wearing a nervous expression.   
“Do you think it could be related to the Horde? The Mystacor thief, I mean,” She glanced at Adora, who was folding her grey utility pants on the bed.   
“I don’t know. I mean, I’m sure there’s sympathizers out there. We didn’t exactly have soldiers running to pledge their allegiance to the rebellion,” Adora responded.   
“Could it be one of their own sorcerers?”   
“Nah. They’ve been really careful about that since Shadow Weaver.”   
“What? What about Shadow Weaver?” Catra’s ears perked up, tense. Adora’s face paled.   
“Oh, shit. I didn’t tell you. How did I forget to tell you?” She closed her eyes, mentally scolding herself.   
“Tell me what, Adora?”   
When Adora opened her eyes, her face turned deadly serious. She sat on the edge of the bed and patted beside her, urging Catra to join her. She did.   
“Catra. Shadow Weaver was once a very powerful sorceress at Mystacor, known as Light Spinner. She was a teacher, she taught Micah, actually,” Adora gripped Catra’s hands as she spoke, “But she was, as always, power hungry. Her ideas for fighting the Horde were rejected. So she decided to take matters into her own hands. She convinced Micah to join her, saying he was doing it for the good of Etheria. But, the spell failed and backfired, and she was thrown out of Mystacor. She had nothing to lose, so she went to Hordak. And, well, you know the rest.”  
Catra was silent.   
“Do you...do you think she’s back?” she asked softly.   
“No! God, Catra, no. She can’t be. Even someone with her power couldn’t survive...that.” Adora practically shouted. She held Catra close.   
“I highly doubt Shadow Weaver had anything to do with this. We’ll figure out who it is, it’ll be okay,” she continued, giving a small smile.  
“I hope you’re right. I had a great dinner idea for tomorrow night, and now I don’t get to make it.” Catra frowned.   
“I’m sure it won’t take long. We’ll be back at home before you know it. I’m gonna grab a book from the library, you finish packing,” Adora pecked Catra on the cheek before bounding down the stairs.   
Catra let out a breath. She shook her head, gripping the edge of the mattress as she stood. Adora was right, this had nothing to do with Shadow Weaver.   
She thought some more. So Mystacor was beautiful, Adora had said. Maybe…  
A smile grew on Catra’s face as an idea sprung to her mind. She leaned closer to the door, ears pointed. She faintly heard Adora muttering to herself, probably still sorting out books downstairs. Carefully and quietly, Catra creeped over to her side of the bed and lifted the mattress just a bit, shoving her hand under it and feeling around. As her fingers brushed the metallic object, she grinned, grabbing it and rushing to hide it in her bag. Just in time.   
“Hey Catra?” Adora called up the stairs.   
“Yeah?” Catra froze, pulling her hand out of the bag.   
“Are you just about ready?”   
“Yeah, I’m on my way down!” Catra called back, trying hard not to sound suspicious.  
“Awesome! I’m grabbing a snack for the road, and then we’re good to go!”   
Catra let out a breath of relief she didn’t even know she’d been holding. She closed both bags, slinging each over one shoulder and starting down the stairs. Adora met her at the door, lifting her bag off of Catra’s shoulder and onto her own.   
“Let’s go,” She grinned, grabbing Catra’s hand, and pulling her out of the house. They checked to make sure the door was locked, and Adora strapped her sword to her back before starting out of the woods.   
They met up with the others at Bright Moon. Bow was desperately trying to get a headcount, and Glimmer was tapping her foot impatiently. Her face softened when she saw Catra and Adora.   
“Ah! Good, you’re here! We’re only waiting on Perfume and then we’ll be ready to leave,” She smiled.   
“She’s probably just packing her yoga mat. I think we all kinda hope to get a bit of time to relax in Mystacor between guarding and investigating,” Adora reassured her.   
“Gosh, I hope. Running Bright Moon has been so stressful for the last few months. It’s almost like, since there’s no conflict with a war, people have to go make their own conflicts and I have to go solve them,” Glimmer sighed.   
“I don’t doubt it. I heard about the corn debate,” Adora laughed lightly. Catra’s heart clenched when she heard it. It was her favorite sound.   
Glimmer just threw her head back and groaned loudly.   
“I’m here! I’m here, sorry, I’m not late, am I?” Perfuma called, slightly out of breath as she ran out of the woods.   
“Just on time!” Bow gave a thumb’s up as he looked up from his tracker pad.   
“Phew!” she smiled as she caught her breath.   
“Alright people! Because I am only one magical being and there are a lot of you, we won’t be teleporting to Mystacor. It’s not a long walk, and we sure be in there in just over an hour. We start guard duty tonight. So, let’s go!” Glimmer announced.   
As they began walking, people began to pair off, eagerly talking and catching up with one another.   
“Hey, Adora!” Scorpia waved rapidly as she ran to hug Adora. Catra used the distraction to dart up to Bow and Glimmer at the front of the group.   
“Hey, Sparkles, Arrow Boy. Hate to interrupt, but I need a little help,” she whispered, flinging an arm around each of them.   
“What is it? Ooh, is it about you and Adora? Are you having relationship problems? OOH, were you two actually fighting earlier?” Glimmer gasped.   
“No, the exact opposite. I, uh,” Catra turned to look back at Adora, who was deeply engrossed with her conversation with Scorpia, “I want to take our relationship to the next level.”  
“What are you saying? You already live together,” Bow raised an eyebrow.   
“I want to propose to her.” Catra responded in a low voice. Bow and Glimmer stopped dead in their tracks, gasping.   
“What?! Are you serious?” Bow yelped, his voice cracking slightly.   
“Shh!” Catra shot a glance at Adora, still blissfully unaware of what was happening in front of her, “I don’t want her to know until it happens. Yes, I’m serious.”  
“Oh my gosh! I can’t believe it!” Glimmer squealed as quietly as she could manage.   
“So, are you planning to do it at Mystacor? I can give you a list of the most romantic spots!” Bow excitedly whispered.   
“I dunno? I’m kinda hoping the moment will just kinda... happen? Like it’ll just feel right? I brought the ring along just in case,” Catra shrugged.   
“Are you gonna make a big, sappy speech? Or just be all casual?” Glimmer asked.   
“Uh? Should I? I didn’t really give it too much thought…” Catra muttered.   
“Honestly, it’s Adora. She probably already wants to spend the rest of her life with you. I don’t think you even need to worry too much about it,” Bow shrugged, matter-of-factly.   
Catra nodded, “You’re probably right. This stays between us, though. It needs to be a secret.”  
“Okay, okay. But, can we throw a party after you announce it?” Glimmer pleaded.   
“Deal. But not too big of a party, just friends.” Catra gave in.   
“Yay!” Glimmer clapped her hands, “You gotta tell us when you do it, we’re so excited for you!”   
“I’m sure Adora will want you both to be the first to know,” Catra smiled.  
The rest of the walk went quickly, and soon the group was standing on a cliff in front of a thick fog.   
“Uh, are we in the right place? Stupid question, I know,” Scorpia raised a pincer.   
“We’re in exactly the right place,” Glimmer grinned, and took a running leap off of the cliff.   
A couple people in the group gasped, and those that didn’t laughed quietly. Catra didn’t realize how tightly she was gripping Adora’s arm until the fog lifted slightly and Glimmer waved from a large, flat, grassy rock below. Suddenly, Catra’s world was spinning as Adora scooped her up into her arms.   
“Hang on!” Adora beamed, taking a few steps backwards.   
“Wait, Adora, what are you-- Oh my god, Adora don’t you dare, Adora don’t even THINK-” Catra squirmed, the panic in her voice rising as Adora broke into a run. Then, they were sailing through midair, and Catra was screaming. She felt Adora land and scrambled out of her arms.   
“What in all of Etheria were you THINKING!” she hissed, the hair on her tail standing straight up.   
Adora giggled. “I just wanted to surprise you a little.”  
“If ‘surprise’ means ‘making my heart stop’ then by all means, you did it,” Catra scowled at her as the rest of the group hesitantly jumped over.   
“Hey, I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you okay?” Adora’s voice was soft, and close to her ear so only Catra could hear her.   
“Yes. No. Maybe. Let’s wait until my blood pressure returns to normal to answer that question,” Catra turned her head slightly.   
“I’m sorry, love. I won’t do that again,” Adora replied. Catra could feel the guilt in her voice.   
She sighed, “It’s fine. Warn me next time, maybe.”   
“Gotcha.” Adora punched Catra lightly on the arm.   
With a rumble, the rock the group was standing on began to move, cutting through the fog until a faint view of a floating island appeared. The closer they got, the lighter the fog became.   
Adora was right, Mystacor was beautiful. She felt her girlfriend squeeze her hand lightly, as Catra stared at the castle and city appearing in front of them. They came to a shuddering stop, and entered the forcefield easily. Castaspella came hurrying across the grounds to the group.   
“Welcome, welcome to Mystacor, home to Etheria’s greatest sorcerers and sorceresses!” she clasped her hands with a smile, “I’m afraid it’s getting late, so we’ll save the tour for the morning. I’ll go ahead and show you to your rooms!”   
The group was already tired, and no one complained at the suggestion to sleep as they followed Castaspella to the castle and to their rooms. The head sorceress was, by far, not at all tired, chattering away happily with Glimmer as the rest of the Princesses trailed behind. The sparring session from the morning, seemingly so long ago, was starting to catch up to Catra. Upon reaching their room, she promptly flopped onto the bed with a sigh. Adora laughed.   
“Tired already?”   
“Exhausted. You don’t even know,” Catra responded, muffled from the blankets she was laying on.   
“It has been a long day, hasn’t it?” Adora smiled, taking her hair out of its regular ponytail. A knock sounded at the door.   
“I am not getting that,” Catra groaned. Adora was already halfway to the door. Too tired to eavesdrop, Catra could hear Adora speaking to someone before the door shut and Adora climbed onto the bed beside her.  
“Who was it?” Catra lifted her head to ask.   
“Glimmer. She said tomorrow we’ll have breakfast and a quick tour, and then we’ll start guard duties,” Adora responded, moving the large pillows aside before slipping under the covers.   
“You’re not even gonna change clothes?” the brunette raised an eyebrow.  
“Nuh-uh. Too tired,” the other girl yawned. Catra smiled at her partner curling up. Adora opened an eye and held her arm out.   
“You coming?” she asked sleepily. Catra crawled into Adora’s arms and snuggled closer to her before letting her eyes fall shut. She felt Adora press a kiss to her forehead before completely drifting off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, not the most action packed which is why it's a bit longer but we'll get to the good stuff soon... ;)


	3. Never Really Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora usually has nightmares, this one isn't any different...right?

Adora’s nightmares were usually consistent. Almost always, they centered on She-Ra, on all the people she couldn’t save, on Horde Prime and his sickingly evil smile, and on Catra and her inability to protect her. But tonight, her dreams centered on Shadow Weaver. She taunted Adora, berating her for not being perfect, for failing to live up to her destiny. There were flashbacks to her childhood, to herself and Catra being abused by the sorceress. And there was shadows, circling Mystacor, and Shadow Weaver’s angry hiss, “You were never good enough, and you never will be. You can’t protect them, you can’t protect her.” The shadows drifted through Mystacor, finding their way into the palace and through the halls, snaking into a cracked door, winding their way around...her. Her and Catra. Sleeping, in the room they were in right now. The shadows were surrounding her, suffocating her.   
“What makes you think it’s really over?” Shadow Weaver sneered, as Adora woke with a scream, her face wet with tears and breathing heavy.   
She sprang out of bed, snatching her sword and pointing it in every direction, her chest heaving.   
“Adora! Adora, what’s wrong? What is it?” Catra bolted upright in bed, her ears perked and eyes wide. Her eyebrows knit with concern when she saw Adora, who fell on her knees, sobbing.   
“Hey, hey, hey,” Catra hopped out of bed and hurried to Adora’s side, cupping the blonde’s face with her hands, “Breathe with me, okay? Breathe. In and out, in and out. There we go.”   
Adora’s sobs softened and her breathing steadied.   
“What was it?” Catra’s mismatched eyes were wide, but understanding.   
“It was...her. It was Shadow Weaver, and it was her shadow spies, and they were here and they were in here and they were on you and you couldn’t breathe and-” Adora choked out what she could before dissolving back into tears at remembering what she saw in the dream. Catra felt the blood drain from her face.   
As she opened her mouth to reassure her girlfriend, the door opened and Glimmer poked a worried face in.   
“Is everything okay? Woah, what’s wrong? What happened?” Glimmer rushed over when she saw Adora.   
“It was a nightmare. She saw Shadow Weaver, and her shadow spies. Get them to check the defenses,” Catra looked up as she rubbed Adora’s back while she cried. Glimmer’s face paled.   
“You don’t think-” she asked quietly.   
“I don’t know what to think. But I’m a little concerned that maybe-”  
“I know what I saw, Catra. They were here. I don’t know if it was just a dream or not,” Adora hiccuped.   
“I’ll get Castaspella,” Glimmer nodded as she rushed back out of the room.   
“Are you okay, Adora?” Catra wiped a tear off of her partner’s face. Adora hiccuped again.   
“I-I don’t know...I always get nightmares but it felt so real and she was saying it wasn’t over and-”   
“Shh. It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me everything. It’s okay. I got you,” Catra interrupted her, not wanting Adora to have to think about it more than she already was. She held her for a few minutes, rubbing her back and peppering her with kisses as her crying slowed.   
Catra heard voices in the hall, approaching them quickly. She was able to pick out Glimmer’s and Castaspella’s before the door to their room opened again. Glimmer and Castaspella, both wearing robes over their pajamas, entered.   
“Is everyone alright?” Castaspella asked, nervously eying Adora.   
“We don’t know yet. Adora had a nightmare about Shadow Weaver- er, uh, Light Spinner, I think that’s who she used to be- and her shadow spies, here in Mystacor. Specifically, in here and on me. She said that Shadow Weaver said...it wasn’t over.” Catra swallowed.   
Castaspella nodded, “I’m having the perimeter checked right now. But, I thought Shadow Weaver was…”  
“We all did. Adora and I talked about it right before we came. We saw her die. But, her nightmare makes me not so sure if that’s the case,” Catra looked at the sorceress and at the queen.   
“What if she isn’t gone?” Glimmer asked quietly.   
“It could mean that she was the one who stole the texts…” Castaspella thought out loud.   
“...I wasn’t strong enough…” Adora’s whisper was almost too soft to be heard.   
“No, Adora. That’s not true. You’re the strongest person I know,” Catra cupped Adora’s face in her hands, but Adora wouldn’t meet her eyes.   
“That’s what she said. She said I wasn’t good enough, that I couldn’t protect anyone, that I couldn’t protect you,” the blonde’s voice was soft but utterly broken.   
“Check the perimeter. Let us know what you find. I’ll stay with her. I don’t think she should do guard duties tomorrow, if that’s alright,” Catra said.   
“No, it’s fine, I can do them-” Adora argued, but Glimmer cut her off.   
“Absolutely not. You need to get some rest. And if Shadow Weaver is truly back, you two of all people shouldn’t be the ones facing her,” Glimmer said sternly, “Now, try to get some rest. I’ll check in here in a bit.”   
Castaspella and Glimmer left to get the update on the perimeter check, leaving Catra and Adora alone.   
“Adora, you need to try to sleep,” Catra whispered.   
“What if she comes back?” Adora asked in a small voice.   
“I’m right here, I’ll be right here with you,” Catra replied as she carefully helped her girlfriend to her feet and back into the bed. Within a few struggle-filled minutes, Adora was back asleep, holding tightly to Catra’s hand.   
Catra looked at her sleeping partner, her face slowly returning to a somewhat peaceful expression. She thought about the ring in her bag, and if it would even be right to ask that question while they were here, after what had just happened. She hoped that Adora wouldn’t have any more nightmares, after all, what could Catra do? She could hold her and comfort her after one, but there was nothing Catra could do to prevent one. She wished that she could just take all of that away. Sure, Catra had her own nightmares, and Adora was there to help her through those, but Adora had them much more often, refused to talk much about them, and Catra always felt that Adora’s nightmares were fueled by some sort of magic.   
Catra was interrupted by Castaspella and Glimmer returning, their faces pale and anxious.   
She held a finger to her lips to say not to wake Adora up, but gently rose from the bed to talk to the two women.   
“There was a breach in the perimeter, about the same time as Adora’s nightmare. There’s no evidence that anyone or anything came through the boundaries of Mystacor, but it is possible. And, with Adora’s nightmare, highly likely. We’re conducting a full sweep of the palace and grounds, but I don’t expect anything to be found. Whoever it was could be long gone by now,” Castaspella whispered.  
“Okay, so no one actually explained how this magic barrier works or whatever. Is it a spell, does someone have to be performing it at all times?” Catra asked.   
“Every month, the moons of Etheria align and a ceremony is held to restore the barrier. Auntie, did anything happen the last time you did the ceremony that could have affected the barrier?” Glimmer turned to Castaspella.  
“Come to think of it, this is the month that one of the moons is just slightly out of the usual alignment. Usually we don’t have any issues but…” Castaspella fell quiet.   
“What? Is there something wrong with the barrier?” Catra pressed.   
“Well, it’s just slightly weaker...but there’s a way to break a small hole in it. You’d have to be a very experienced sorcerer on Mystacor, and be familiar with the barrier’s magic to know that,” Castaspella chewed on her lip, “I need to call an emergency meeting of the head sorcerers. Please, remain in your rooms until we can discuss this.”   
Glimmer nodded, “I’ll tell the others.” She left the room, choosing to walk rather than teleport and risk waking people.   
“Castaspella. Do you think Shadow Weaver could really still be alive, and could she be responsible for the stolen texts?” Catra asked.   
“It’s possible. Shadow Weaver was a very talented, powerful sorceress, even if she did resort to dark magic. I wouldn’t put it past her to fake her death,” Castaspella sighed, “We’ve got our best sorcerers holding the barrier right now. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is getting through now. Get some rest, you and Adora could certainly use it.”   
Catra nodded, and Castaspella left to gather the elders. She climbed back into bed with Adora, who was sleeping soundly, and wrapped her arms around the blonde girl.   
“I won’t let her hurt us anymore,” Catra whispered, “I promise.” 

When Adora woke again, she felt a moment of panic upon forgetting where she was and simultaneously remembering the dream she’d had. She patted the space beside her frantically, searching for her sword, or Catra, or both.   
“Hey! Hey, hey, I’m here,” Catra scampered over to her, “Morning.”   
“Morning…” Adora yawned, relaxing slightly, “What happened last night?” She felt Catra tense slightly.  
“Do you remember anything?” she chewed her lip lightly.   
“I know I had another nightmare, and I scared everyone,” Adora sighed. Catra looked horrified.   
“Whelp, no use beating around the bush. Adora, you had a very realistic nightmare. You woke up screaming and crying and swinging your sword and you said that it was Shadow Weaver and her shadow spies, and that they were here in Mystacor. So, naturally, Glimmer wakes up and comes over and I told her what you’d said. She went and got Castaspella, who checked the perimeter and found out there’d been another perimeter breach around the same time as your nightmare,” Catra tried to explain gently, but the color drained from Adora’s face as she spoke.   
“Was anyone hurt? Did they find anything?” Adora asked in a small voice.   
“No, no one was hurt. I haven’t heard anything from the full sweep yet, Castaspella called an emergency meeting with the head elders,” Catra lowered her voice, “They don’t think it was just a dream, Adora.”   
“Do they-Do you think she’s-” Adora started stammering and Catra could tell she was starting to panic.   
“They don’t know yet. Shh. It’s okay,” Catra started running her fingers through Adora’s hair to calm her down.  
“But, what if-” Adora was cut off.   
“Adora. If she’s back, then we will handle her. And we will make sure she never can come back. We aren’t even sure if Shadow Weaver has been doing this. Glimmer’s relieved you of guard duty for the time being. You should try to relax, as much as you can,” Catra cupped Adora’s face with her hands as she spoke.   
“I guess you’re right. She-Ra can probably handle it. I’m just...I get so worked up when she’s involved, it’s hard for me to not get so worked up,” Adora rested her head on her girlfriend’s shoulder.  
“I know you do. We both do. She really did a number on us, huh?” Catra cracked a small smile.   
Poof.  
Both girls jumped at the sound, before noticing a very exhausted Glimmer standing in their room. Bow cracked the door, much more quietly.  
“Ah, good, you’re up,” Glimmer sighed, teleporting over to the chair and plopping down on it. Bow nervously made his way over to the chair on the other side of the room, nodding a hellp. Glimmer had most likely woken him up far too early, because he was too sleepy for words.   
“How did the meeting go?” Catra asked, closing her hand around Adora’s.   
“They’re adding more defenses. I’ve already got Scorpia, Perfuma, Frosta and Mermista out on guard patrol. I think they’re going to try to use a spell to see the whereabouts of-” Glimmer stopped speaking when she saw Catra glare daggers at her.   
“So how did you sleep last night, Adora?” Glimmer continued with a gulp.   
Adora rubbed her head. “I’m not sure. I’m starting to remember what happened though. I just wish I could do something about it,” she frowned.   
“Believe us, Adora. We wish there was something we could do, too. We’ll have to wait until the sorcerers finish before we know anything,” Bow shot her a concerned look.   
Adora groaned and flopped backward onto the bed.   
“All I wanted was a NICE little mission, fix the issues, and then we’re done and we go home! Maybe get some time in the hot springs! Maybe on the beach!” she cried, exasperated.   
“Nothing’s ever that simple,” the Queen sighed. Bow nodded. The group jumped as a beep rang from his tracker pad.   
“Woah, this is big…” he muttered as he looked at the screen.   
“What is it, Bow?” Glimmer teleported to his side to peer at the screen over his shoulder.   
“It’s an energy signal. Well, magic signal. I adjusted the settings on my tacker pad to pick up any significant amount of magic. Just regular magic signatures made the pad go haywire, because we’re, you know, in Mystacor. So I set the sensitivity level lower and it picks up any large amount of magic being used and where on Mystacor. Hopefully, it’ll be able to detect if any magic is being used on the barrier,” Bow explained.   
“That’s...actually not a bad idea,” Catra admitted.   
“Thanks? I think? It went off last night around the same time Adora had her nightmare and the barrier was broken, so I’d say it worked.”  
“Can you trace it?” Adora spoke up.  
“I haven’t tried. I don’t think it’s sensitive enough to pick up any residual magic on a person,” he sighed.   
“I’m sure it’ll come in handy. I think we underestimated how easy this mission was supposed to be,” Adora rolled over onto her face, muffling her words. Catra patted her on the back.   
“We’re going to have breakfast in a bit in the Great Hall. If you two would rather stay up here, I’ll have some food sent up for you,” Glimmer stood.  
“No, I probably should get out of here for a little. Maybe after breakfast we’ll take a walk around the grounds?” Adora responded, turning to Catra.   
“Great! See you in twenty minutes!” Glimmer grinned, grabbing Bow by the arm and teleporting out of the room.   
“Are you sure you wanna go down?” Catra asked, giving Adora a worried look.   
“Yes. I think...I just need to get some fresh air, get out of this room for a bit,” the blonde responded, hopping off of the bed and walking to her knapsack to get a change of clothes.   
“You don’t want to go back to bed for a little?” Catra stretched out playfully across the bed, eyeing her girlfriend as Adora pulled her hair up into her signature ponytail.   
“No. I just need to get out for a bit. This is the first big incident since defeating Horde Prime. I’m just stressed, that’s all,” she replied. She sat down on the edge of the bed and Catra’s tail curled around her wrist. Catra wasn’t sure what to tell her girlfriend, until a sly smile spread on her face.   
“Race you to the Great Hall?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally the plot is picking up! Thanks for the kudos, guys, I'm really glad y'all are enjoying my silly little stories!


	4. Hurt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora and Catra try to have a relaxing day with the looming threat hanging over their heads, but the day doesn't go at all to plan.

After a filling breakfast, quick tour, and pleasant chit-chat, Catra and Adora found themselves walking hand-in-hand across the beach on Mystacor. Catra had borrowed Adora’s boots for the sole reason that the sand felt weird under her feet, and Adora didn’t mind it covering hers. It was quiet, apart from the gentle lull of the cloudy waves washing up onto the beach and lapping at the girls’ toes. Neither of them spoke, choosing to enjoy the silence instead.   
“I bet this place would be gorgeous around sunset,” Catra thought, admiring the way the cloud waves matched the sky, and taking note of how similar the shade was to Adora’s eyes. Adora squeezed her hand oh-so-lightly, just enough to reassure her that she was still there, but not distract from the calming moment.   
“Want to try out the hot springs?” Adora asked softly.   
“Mmm. Maybe in a little bit,” Catra sighed as she breathed in the slightly salty air.   
“I told you that you’d like it here,” Adora smiled slightly.   
“I hate it when you’re right.”   
“You love it.”  
And then Adora was falling, facefirst into the sand. She snatched Catra’s hand on her way down, dragging her attacker to the sand with her, grabbing handfuls of sand and launching it at her partner.   
“Adora! Nooo, stop, the sand!” Catra wailed, holding up her hands to shield herself from being pelted with it.   
The blonde giggled as she linked her fingers with the shorter girl.   
“You don’t like me at all,” Catra frowned.   
“You’re right. I don’t.”   
Catra gasped in mock horror.   
“I love you,” Adora grinned, wrestling with the brunette gently.   
“God, Adora, you’re such a sap,” Catra threw back her head with a groan.   
“Says the girl that routinely brings me dead mice and birds as a ‘gift’,” Adora teased.   
“They are for US, Adora, for our family!” the smaller girl hissed.  
“Catra, it’s just you and me, and thankfully I know how to cook people food that isn’t ration bars,” Adora rolled her eyes.   
“I wouldn’t complain if you ransacked the Fright Zone to find the recipe for the gray kind, those have more flavor than half the stuff you actually make-”  
Adora shut the other up by throwing a handful of sand at her.   
“Alright, alright, I’m done. Let’s go get cleaned up,” Catra laughed a little, getting to her feet and holding out a hand to Adora, who cautiously accepted it, only for Catra to yank her up, grab her shirt, and shove a fistful of sand into it.   
“Catra!” Adora screeched, as Catra broke into a run toward the castle, cackling all the way. 

After nearly two hours of showering, Adora and Catra had been freed of sand particles and Adora was gently brushing Catra’s fur for any remnants. Catra refused to let on that she was enjoying it, but the occasional purr escaped her throat.   
“How about those hot springs now?” Adora asked.   
“We just took showers,” Catra turned to look at her, “And I’m not a huge water person.”  
“It doesn’t even feel like water, it’s so warm,” the blonde pressed her forehead to her lover’s.   
“Fiiine. But if I don’t like it, I’m getting out and napping on the floor.”  
“Deal. I packed you some clothes to wear.”  
“I’m gonna regret this aren’t I?”  
“Not at all. I promise.” 

The hot springs were exactly as Adora had described, warm and full of steam. It was relaxing just standing in the room. The clothes her girlfriend packed for her consisted of a pair of white shorts and a crop top, which managed to fit Catra perfectly even though she’d never seen them before in her life. She had the feeling that Adora just liked it when she showed off her stomach. Adora matched her, wearing shorts and a wrapped top with one strap over her shoulder. Catra watched, slightly slackjawed, as Adora climbed into a pool of hot water and waded in to her waist. The blonde held a hand out to her.   
“Want me to help you in?” she asked.   
The feline girl eyed the water dubiously.   
“Do I have to? I’m fine just sitting here.”  
Giggling, Adora pleaded, “Just try it! For me?”   
Groaning, Catra stuck her feet in, making a face. Adora watched her with an amused expression as she sat down in the pool. The brunette slowly and carefully waded in after her, grimacing as the water rose higher on her.   
“I am doing this for you,” she grumbled, inching closer to her girlfriend.   
“I know,” Adora smiled that stupid smile that make Catra’s heart skip a beat.   
“So you just sit here? Doing what? Breathing?”   
“Yup,” Adora replied, “Some people take naps.”  
“That sounds more like it.” Catra allowed herself to purr as she nestled her head on Adora’s shoulder, and tried to relax enough for a cat nap. The room was quiet, and Catra listened to Adora’s breathing.   
From their years in the Horde and now, their time living together, Catra knew how Adora felt based on her breathing alone. Normally, it was soft and light. After a training session, it was rough and heavy, but satisfied. When she slept, it was deep and even and accented with the occasional snore. When she had nightmares, it was quick and erratic, and then she woke up panting and gasping for air.   
So, Catra knew exactly how Adora was feeling in the hot springs.   
“You aren’t sleeping,” Catra whispered.   
“Geez, how’d you guess?” Adora snorted slightly.   
“Your breathing.”   
“You gotta stop doing that.”   
“Doing what?”   
“Listening to me breathe. I’m fine.”  
Catra opened her eyes and turned to look at Adora.   
“You clearly aren’t. I know you’re thinking about last night,” she stated.   
“How can I not? We come for a simple mission and now there’s a possibility Shadow Weaver isn’t dead and she’s stealing important texts from Mystacor? Am I supposed to be calm?” Adora scowled, irritation lacing her voice.   
“Of course not. But I figured you’d want to talk about it or something,” Catra remembered what Perfuma had taught her from their meditation sessions.   
“What if I don’t want to talk about it?” Adora yelled, standing up in the pool and splashing water everywhere, “What if I don’t want to do anything about it!”   
Catra’s ears flattened against her head. She and Adora never fought. The last time Adora had yelled at her, it was when-  
“Adora, I didn’t mean-” the smaller girl backed away from her, ears back and tail waving nervously.   
“I don’t want to keep being the hero! I don’t want to have to fight! Why can’t it all just-just stop!” Adora was holding her head in her hands, tearing at her hair.   
“Adora, please-” Catra’s voice cracked.   
The blonde paused in her screaming to actually look at her partner, her fur raised in fear and face contorted what Adora could only call pain.   
“Catra. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-” she breathed, attempting to get closer to her girlfriend with her arm outstretched as a peace offering. Catra drew back even farther.   
“No, Catra, please-” she pleaded, but Catra continued to shy away from her, a lump rising in her throat.   
Without a word, she turned and scampered away on all fours, out of the hot springs and into the castle.   
Adora let herself sink to her knees, helpless. Had she just screamed at Catra? She’d lost her temper entirely, and hadn’t even been able to stop herself from exploding at her own girlfriend.  
Cursing herself, Adora got dressed in the dressing room and headed off in search of Bow and Glimmer, hoping they’d be able to help her figure out just how to apologize to Catra.   
She found them walking hand in hand along the south border.   
“Bow! Glimmer! I need your help!” Adora jogged to them, coming to a stop as they turned to greet her.   
“Are you feeling any better, Adora?” Glimmer asked with a smile.   
Adora looked to the ground.   
“Adora? Is something wrong?” Bow asked, his overprotective friend mom mode kicking in.  
“I may...have upset Catra…” Adora admitted, biting her lip. Glimmer and Bow exchanged glances.   
“What happened?” Glimmer asked, her face knit in concern.   
“We were in the hot springs, and we were trying to relax and she asked if I was okay and if I wanted to talk about it, and I just...blew up. I yelled at her, and she ran off,” Adora sighed shamefully, “I know she was only trying to help, I just...I’m tired of having all this bad stuff happen, and having to fight it. I thought after Horde Prime was defeated we’d be able to have...oh, I don’t know. Peace?”   
“Adora. I know that this isn’t the greatest of things to happen. And whatever or whoever is behind these thefts, Shadow Weaver or not, we’ll get to the bottom of it, together. And we’ll do it for any other thing that ever comes up,” Bow reassuringly placed a hand on Adora’s shoulder. She smiled.   
“It’s okay if you take it easy today. You’re stressed, and you have every reason to be. Shadow Weaver was horrible to you and Catra growing up, it’s only natural that it’s hitting you pretty hard,” Glimmer chimed in.   
“You guys are right. I think I’m okay to do tonight’s shift. I want to talk to Catra first, though,” Adora replied.   
“Only if you’re sure. Let me know if you change your mind, and good luck with Catra!” Glimmer clapped her hands.   
“Do you even know where she is? She does tend to hide when she’s upset,” Bow questioned.   
“I have an idea where she might be,” Adora replied, eyeing the highest tower of Mystacor’s palace. 

Catra surveyed the floating island from her perch, tucked away in one of Mystacor’s towers. She watched as classes took place in the courtyard, and as the princesses made their rounds around the distant barrier as part of their patrol. It was something she enjoyed, watching people go about their day from afar without an inkling of care. It helped her think, or not think, whichever she preferred. That was interrupted, however, when she heard someone climbing the stairs to her newfound secret space.   
Adora grunted as she climbed up the short ladder into the room, empty apart from the gaping window Catra had found a seat in.   
“Wow, you’ve got a shit-ton of endurance,” she panted, resting her hands on her knees. Catra didn’t answer.   
Adora walked over to the window and sat down on the sill, pretending Catra didn’t curl herself into an even tighter ball as she approached.   
“Hey,” she said softly. Catra scowled.   
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you. I got too worked up and couldn’t think straight,” Adora continued. Catra only hissed in reply.   
“You wanna yell at me so we’re even?” Adora half joked.   
“We’re supposed to be a team, Adora! We’re supposed to be together! You’re supposed to tell me how you feel and then we figure out a way to fix it! You keep this stupid mindset that you’re the hero, and you can’t show weakness, and everything is your burden, and it ISN’T!” Catra snarled at Adora, who jumped, “It’s been months, Adora. You can’t keep everything inside forever. If there’s one good thing Flower Girl has drilled into my brain it’s that you need to talk to people.”   
“I know.” the blonde looked down at her hands, fiddling with them nervously.   
“Then why don’t you?” Catra was standing now, her hands balled into tight fists.   
“It’s how we were raised. You don’t have problems, you have to be this great soldier, you have to be perfect. I don’t want to admit that I’m not. No matter what I do or how hard I fight, I’m not good enough, I’m not perfect. If I was perfect, I would’ve been a better She-Ra, I could’ve gotten you and Glimmer back so much sooner, I could’ve defeated Horde Prime before he destroyed so much on Etheria, I could’ve made sure Shadow Weaver never hurt us again-” Adora admitted, rambling.  
“Adora. Shut the hell up.” Catra glared at her, but sat back down beside her and took a deep breath.   
“Adora, I love you. I do. But you are an idiot,” Catra stated. Adora managed a low chuckle.   
“No one is perfect, not even you. But you are more than ‘good enough.’ You saved the universe, multiple times. You fought Horde Prime without powers, and you got me and Sparkles back home, safe and sound. It isn’t your fault that Shadow Weaver is a pain in the ass and managed to weasel her way out of another bad situation,” she continued.   
“You always know exactly what to say,” Adora smiled, “But I’m still sorry for earlier.”   
“I’m sorry too. For running away. I knew you weren’t mad at me,” Catra rested her forehead on Adora’s.   
“It’s all good. I’m doing night guard duties tonight. Wanna catch some sleep before the shift?” the taller girl said, pecking her girlfriend on the cheek.   
“Yes, I thought you’d never ask,” Catra sighed. Adora laughed, standing as she led her partner back down the tower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all really thought I was gonna have them stay mad at each other. I feel like they both struggle with expressing how they feel to each other, mainly by their upbringing in the Horde, so that's something I wanted to explore. They're working on it, but it isn't easy.


	5. Take It Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Update: This chapter was supposed to be chapter five, but was skipped and chapter six was posted by accident instead! So that's fixed now!

Patrolling was boring. It was utterly, immensely boring. Catra couldn’t stop yawning, despite having woken from a completely satisfying nap barely five hours earlier. Between Adora’s nightmare and the argument in the hot springs, she’d almost forgotten that guard duties and investigation were the only reason the alliance was even there. Not that she enjoyed the reminder. Adora had apparently slept like a rock, because she barely drifted from her overly-enthusiastic soldier persona while Catra dragged her feet.   
“How many more hoursss,” the cat-like girl stifled a yawn.   
“We’ve been here for five hours, we have four left. You’ll be fine,” Adora responded. Catra groaned.   
“There’s nothing happening. It’s dead quiet,” she complained, tapping Bow’s tacker pad that showed zero signs of magic anywhere.   
“Maybe not now,” Adora glanced fondly at her girlfriend, “But there’s been a barrier breach for the last two nights in a row, and I don’t think that pattern is going to break any time soon.”   
“Well, can whoever it is hurry up so we can go to bed? Ooh, or raid the kitchens, I’m starving,” Catra’s ears perked up at the thought of food.   
“No, we just have to finish this shift. I’ll get us the afternoon one tomorrow if you wanna complain about not sleeping,” Adora threatened.   
“If you take my afternoon nap, I will take your sword and shove it so far up your-” Catra abruptly stopped speaking when Bow’s tracker pad began beeping frantically.   
“Where is it coming from?” Adora reached for her sword in the air.   
“Uhhh, North side, that way!” Catra responded, pointing in the direction of the magic source.  
“For the Honor of Grayskull!” Adora cried, and within moments she’d grown a few feet and bulked up considerably, taking the form of She-Ra and sprinting off. Catra followed as fast as she could.   
The barrier breach was obvious, sending sparks and shockwaves through the rest of the magic bubble around the floating island. Catra struggled to press the alarm button on the tracker pad, her fingers shaking as she ran. Her glowing girlfriend plowed ahead, her sword glinting in the moonlight. Or the She-Ra light. Catra couldn’t tell.   
“Stop where you are!” She-Ra’s booming voice yelled, sword pointed forward.   
Catra could just barely make out a tall cloaked figure jumping at the two soldiers running toward them. The figure lifted their hands and traced a ring in the air, a magic circle appearing in front of them. The cloaked sorcerer thrust the ring forward, right in She-Ra’s direction.   
“Adora, duck!” Catra screamed, and She-Ra dodged the spell just in time.   
“Are you okay?” she called back to Catra.   
“I’m fine, go get them!” the feline waved frantically, but when She-Ra turned back, the figure was gone. The only evidence that anyone had been through the barrier was the slowly closing hole in the side.   
“Did you see who it was?” Catra panted, catching up to She-Ra, who shifted into Adora to catch her breath.   
“No. I saw their hands, though. They didn’t look like Shadow Weaver’s…” Adora said quietly.   
Queen Glimmer and Castaspella appeared next to the two with a pop.   
“What is it? Did you catch anyone?” Castaspella asked.  
“We saw someone, but we couldn’t catch them. They know magic, they used a spell against us,” Catra responded, her tail curling nervously around Adora’s wrist.   
“It didn’t look like Shadow Weaver. I didn’t see their face, they were wearing a cloak, but I saw their hands when they did the spell. They didn’t look like Shadow Weaver’s hands,” Adora looked worried, even more worried than she had been earlier.   
“Is there any way it could still be her?” Glimmer asked.   
“I don’t think so, Glimmer. You both clearly saw how she died, and this perpetrator doesn’t appear to be Shadow Weaver. It must be someone else,” Castaspella insisted.   
Adora looked lost in thought.   
“Castaspella, do you, by any chance, know what the subject of the texts taken were? I mean, what spells they were for,” she spoke up.   
“I will get my head sorcerers to do an inventory on the texts we still have, and we will hold another meeting at breakfast. Are you two able to finish this guard shift?”   
“We’re fine. We’ll see you in a few hours,” the blonde responded, and Glimmer and Castaspella returned to the castle.   
Adora started pacing.   
“What is going on inside that thick skull of yours?” Catra frowned.   
“I’m just wondering...maybe Shadow Weaver wasn’t alone?” Adora thought out loud.   
“What do you mean?” Catra sat on the grass to watch Adora pace anxiously.   
“We weren’t exactly a top-notch security team. She had almost full reign of the castle before Horde Prime arrived. She could’ve been doing anything, or working with anyone. What if she was teaching someone else, or manipulating someone else? Or working on some secret way to cheat death?” Adora was running a path into the grass.   
“She was kinda a nut job,” Catra half-heartedly joked.   
“I just-She sacrificed herself for us. As a ‘you’re welcome even though I abused you both for years’ gift, or whatever. But maybe she didn’t! We don’t know!” Adora cried.   
“Hey. Let’s just take a walk, finish this patrol. Get some rest. Let’s see what the sorcerers have to say at the meeting, then we’ll figure out what to do next, okay?” Catra stood to press her forehead against her girlfriend’s, holding her hands reassuringly.   
“Wow,” Adora chuckled, “You’re getting really good at calming people down.”   
“What can I say? Those weekly meditation sessions with Perfuma are kinda helpful,” the shorter girl shrugged.  
“I can tell,” Adora smiled, taking her lover’s hand and starting to walk back around the perimeter of the island.   
“It’ll be okay, Adora. I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I missed a Friday, whoops! Longer chapter this week to make up for it! :)


	6. Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh. Drama and doubt galore!
> 
> This chapter was accidentally posted as chapter five and the actual chapter five was skipped. That's fixed now, and hopefully helps any confusion about the chapters' timelines!

The rest of their shift went by quickly but quietly, and soon Adora and Catra were seated at a large table eating breakfast before the meeting Queen Glimmer and Castaspella had called. They were both tired and hungry, and as soldiers, tended to wolf down breakfast as if it would be taken away from them. (And, sometimes, it had.)  
All of the princesses were at the meeting, filling the room with chatter and noise as they started their own breakfast and met up with the others.  
Adora was concentrating, trying to make her eyes glow without fully turning into She-Ra. It had resulted in her slipping into She-Ra a few times, and the loud scraping of her chair being shoved away from the table when she did. Catra cackled loudly when she did. It was organized chaos, to say the least.  
The doors opened and the room slipped into a respectful silence. Queen Glimmer and Castaspella entered, followed by a few head sorcerers. Their faces were pale and serious.  
Catra felt Adora grip her hand tightly.  
“Princesses, thank you for attending. Some recent developments have been made that require us to convene to discuss this information,” Castaspella began, “Last night, during the patrol, Adora and Catra discovered a barrier breach and were the first on the scene. They came face to face with our suspected intruder, but were unable to capture them after being met with experienced magic. However, after the events of the encounter, we do not feel that our thief is Shadow Weaver, having somehow returned from death. We think the thief is returning to steal materials for spellcasting, since it’s difficult to find outside of Msytacor.”  
Glimmer took a deep breath, “The four missing ancient texts were all spells on eternal life and how to bring a person back from the dead. All forms of magic banned from sorcerers to even study. We think...this person may be trying to bring Shadow Weaver back, permanently.”  
The room was so silent you could hear a pin drop.  
Catra stood abruptly, toppling her chair over.  
“What do you mean they want to bring her back?” she snarled. Adora’s face grew steadily paler.  
“It won’t happen, Catra, we’re going to stop them ahead of time-” Glimmer began.  
“What if it already has? They have everything they need to do it! She could be back right this second!” Catra cut the queen off sharply, raising her voice. Beside her, Adora looked like she was going to be sick.  
“Maybe we should all take some deep breaths,” Perfuma quietly remarked.  
With a loud clatter, Adora stood from her chair and walked out of the room wordlessly.  
The budding argument stopped when she did, and the door slammed shut behind the blonde.  
“Glimmer, you know what Shadow Weaver’s capable of, what she’s already done. You of all people, considering you were all buddy-buddy with her until you didn’t serve any purpose to her anymore,” Catra scowled.  
“You take that back!” the queen gasped.  
“Whatever. I need to go find my girlfriend, and help her calm down from finding out that the person who tortured us our entire lives and we thought was dead, might not actually be dead anymore all because people don’t know how to guard a damn magical floating island!” the feline threw her hands up and stormed out of the room.  
The other princesses were silent.  
“So, uh, patrol today, how’s that gonna change?” Scorpia raised a claw. 

Catra found Adora in their room, pacing and muttering to herself.  
“Hey, Adora?”  
The blonde’s face softened when she heard her girlfriend call for her.  
“Hey, Catra,” she smiled. She sat on the edge of the bed, and Catra slunk over to sit next to her.  
“How are you feeling?” the shorter girl looked up at Adora.  
“I could ask you the same thing,” the blonde smiled slightly.  
“Want to talk about it?”  
“I thought...she was dead. She had given up her life for us. That she did what was right after so many years of doing the exact opposite. But maybe she always planned this, to live forever somehow. And maybe she won’t do anything to us, maybe she’ll hide out forever. But she’s always been so power hungry, it doesn’t seem like her.” Adora flopped back onto the bed.  
“I did too. Coming back from the dead sounds like it’s right up Shadow Weaver’s alley. But maybe we can find whoever is trying to bring her back, and stop them before that happens. And then we can go back home, and we can stop worrying about all this,” Catra curled up beside her.  
“Do we just hang out around the perimeter every night and hope we can nab them?” Adora sighed.  
“Well, he’s been here three night in a row, around the exact same time, so I’d say it isn’t a bad idea.”  
“If I could’ve just gotten there faster, I could’ve tackled him, and then we would’ve had him!” came the frustrated sigh.  
“Adora, you did great. We just might have to have a plan for how to catch him for next time.”  
Adora didn’t respond for a few minutes, thinking. Then, she sat bolt upright with a gasp.  
“Adora?”  
“I have a plan,” Adora grinned. 

Within one hour, all of the princesses had been called back to the meeting room, plus Castaspella and the head sorcerers.  
“Adora, you’ve been smiling for an hour. When are you going to tell us about the plan?” Glimmer tapped her hand impatiently.  
“Patience, Sparkles,” Catra smirked.  
Adora cleared her throat.  
“Okay, uh, hi. I’m a little rusty at this planning stuff. We’ve noticed that the thief that stole the texts has been coming back every night at the exact same time each night. The theory is that they’re coming back for materials to perform this spell. I’ve just spoken with the head sorcerers, and they think there’s still one material missing from the spells needed. So, the thief will probably be back for that. Our plan is to set up a trap. We make it seem like there’s no patrol tonight, or a much lighter one. The thief will break the barrier, and we’ll get the alert that they do, from Bow’s magic tracker. Thief gets into the castle, and we wait back at the point of entry. Everyone will have a place in the castle to act as a lookout, and to update on the location of the thief. Scorpia, Netossa, I think you both would be really useful for the last step. When the thief comes out of the castle, Scorpia will stun them with her powers, and Netossa snags them with a net or two.”  
God, Catra loved it when she used her authoritative tone.  
“What makes you so sure it’ll work? Are you sure you don’t need an ice fist?” Frosta piped up.  
“Maybe not for the initial capture, but maybe when we interrogate,” Adora responded.  
“I like it. I think we can make it happen,” Glimmer nodded, “Aunt Casta?”  
The sorceress pursed her lips.  
“I am not the biggest fan, but it’s the best plan we’ve got,” she agreed.  
“The plan will take effect tonight. Everyone, get some rest. Be ready,” Glimmer announced, dismissing the group.  
The princesses started to engage in conversation together, and while Adora was talking to Frosta and Perfuma, Catra found herself being grabbed by Bow and Glimmer.  
“Have you asked her yet?” Bow whispered.  
“Huh? Oh. OH. No, I haven’t,” Catra’s ears tucked back, “I figured with how stressed this has gotten her and our argument the other day that it’d be wrong to ask right now.”  
“You’re right,” he responded, cringing lightly, “Maybe once we catch this person, it’ll be the perfect time to ask.”  
“Sunsets are the most romantic time in Mystacor,” Glimmer winked, resting her head on Bow’s shoulder.  
“Noted. Let’s just focus on stopping...whatever this is,” Catra responded.  
“Agreed. But, we’re rooting for you, Catra,” Bow gave her a warm smile.  
“Oh, ew. Don’t make me feel things,” she grimaced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been a bit behind on updating, whoops! This story got a little stalled when I really wasn't sure where else to go with the plot but for now, we are up to speed!


	7. System Failure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The perfect plan is about to be set in motion...or is it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got hit with some writer's block, which is why this chapter is insanely late. It's a pretty short one too, but that's mostly because some longer, more intense chapters are coming up. (And because I procrastinated and need filler, but we aren't gonna talk about that.) Enjoy!

That evening, the group prepped to set the plan in motion. While Adora checked in with Scorpia and Notossa as to their roles in the plan, Catra was left in her room alone. Sighing, she rifled through her bag to find the ring she’d planned to give to Adora.   
She’d spent weeks trying to find one that she felt was good enough for Adora, but Adora was too good for anything in her eyes. She’d ended up sneaking around for a month, before designing a ring with one of Bright Moon’s jewelers, specifically for Adora. It was a simple gold band with a red gem as the main stone, and two small, blue crystals on either side. It was designed to match not only She-Ra, but the gold and blue matched Catra’s eyes, and she figured Adora would like that personal touch.   
She’d planned the moment out carefully, Catra would slip the ring into a secret pocket in her pants, and pull it out when she kneeled in front of her love…  
The door creaked open and Catra barely had enough time to drop the ring into her bag before Adora bounded into the room and hopped beside her on the bed.   
“Ready to do this?” the blonde grinned.   
“I don’t have too much of a choice, do I?” Catra smiled down at her girlfriend.   
“With me? Nah. Always have to be ready.”  
“Adora?”   
“Hm?”   
“I love you.”  
“I love you too, Catra.”   
“Don’t forget it, dummy.”   
“How could I ever?” Adora giggled.   
“Cause you’re an idiot.”   
“I’m your idiot.”  
“Hmmm, maybe I like that though,” Catra purred.   
They laid like that for a while, Catra curled next to Adora and purring contentedly, until Glimmer knocked on their door to tell them it was time.   
Adora had positioned herself and Catra on the north perimeter, Netossa and Spinnerella on the East, and Scorpia on the West. As three in the morning approached, Adora grew more and more anxious. She was quiet, but Catra could tell her nervousness was only increasing. She held her hand often to remind her that she was there for her, squeezing gently every now and then. They stayed out until three AM came and went, and then four, and then five, and then the sun was rising and Adora was a trembling, shaking mess.   
“I thought we had it,” she murmured as they returned to the castle.  
“We did. Maybe they knew we’d be expecting them tonight?” Catra responded.   
At breakfast, no one was pleased that the perpetrator hadn’t been caught, and Adora seemed to take it as a personal offense that the plan was, in her words, a failure.   
Glimmer tried to cheer the group up, promising that they would try again on the coming night and hope that the thief showed up. They didn’t have much to track them on, so it would be now or never. She ordered everyone to rest, get some sleep, and they’d reconvene before heading to their positions.   
Adora had actually cried out of pure frustration the second she returned to her room, holding back her tears in front of everyone but Catra, who held her and whispered to her until they both fell asleep, too exhausted to do anything else.   
When Catra woke, Adora was already up and pacing around their room, chewing her lip. She didn’t look like she’d gotten much rest, despite Perfuma’s very strong chamomile tea.  
“Hey, Adora” Catra purred, watching her girlfriend walk in circles.  
“Oh. Hi, Catra,” Adora paused, smiling at the brunette and climbing on the bed beside her.   
“Did you sleep well?” the feline’s ear flicked.   
“I guess so, for what little time I did sleep.”  
“Do you need to take another nap? We still have a bit, and you know the plan so you really don’t have to go to the meeting.”   
“No,” Adora sighed, “I’m just nervous. There’s a lot at stake here.”  
“It’ll be okay, nothing bad can happen as long as we’ve got each other, remember?” Catra allowed herself to be slightly sappy, pretending that she didn’t love the light blush that spread over Adora’s cheeks when she was.   
The blonde smiled in response, and leaned closer to her lover to press their foreheads together.   
“I know. Now, let’s go get this creep.” 

The meeting room held an air of seriousness and worry tonight. Any other time, someone, usually Scorpia, would be cracking a joke and a lively chatter would fill the room. But tonight, no one spoke. Everyone had been disappointed by the events of the night before, and that the culprit had not yet been caught. Everyone was fuelled by the anxiety that the thief didn’t need to return, meaning that they would be too late to stop what they assumed would be the sorcerer’s plan to bring Shadow Weaver back. It wouldn’t be the end of Etheria as they knew it, seeing as Adora had released all the magic stored in the Heart of Etheria and that no threat could ever be quite as large as Horde Prime, but there was nothing that was stopping Shadow Weaver from trying to regain some sort of power, or as much of it as she could.   
Adoa and Catra were trying to not think about what it would mean if their abusive adoptive mother was back. The two hated her, but they acknowledged that the woman had been a mother figure to them, and the situation was bringing up a lot of memories and emotions.   
Adora was even more quiet than she usually was for these kinds of meetings, and Catra could practically feel Adora ripping her own plan to shreds in her mind. She reached out to squeeze her girlfriend’s hand lightly, and was met with a grim smile from the blonde.   
“Princesses, I think tonight might be our night,” Queen Glimmer spoke to begin the meeting.  
Adora scoffed.   
“We will follow the same plan as we did last night. We have to believe that tonight, our thief will show, and we will be able to capture them. If the plan doesn’t work, then we’ll try another approach,” she continued. Adora’s hand was wound in so tight of a fist Catra knew it’d leave those faint crescent marks on her palm if they didn’t break the skin.   
“All right,” Castaspella stepped up beside her niece, “Let’s go.”


End file.
